SOMA - From the Ashes
by RPMaestro
Summary: Though the ARK mission is complete, Simon-3 is left alone at Phi. Despairing on his fate, his mind slowly fall into madness. He chose suicide as his escape. But something stopped him...
1. Hello Simon I'm Simon

_I cannot live through this._

 _I just cannot live through this._

 _I sat Phi. Alone in complete darkness with my despair. Don't know how long I've remained there. My flashlight was the only means to light my way... to see where I can go._

 _But where CAN I go?_

 _I'm in the deepest shithole in the ocean. Trapped like a rat. Monsters swarming outside, waiting to feast on my body. This body isn't even mine. It belongs to a dead person named Raleigh Herber. I was copied into a cortex chip that was plugged into where her missing head was supposed to be. My flashlight shined on a corpse lying on the floor. It belonged to the only companion I have in this entire ordeal. She too was a copy like me. Slotted her cortex chip into the Omnitool in front of me. There is no power in this facility to test it. Even if there is any, I'm not even sure she's would be alive. Her chip was shorted out._

 _I am Simon Jarrett._

 _Am I Simon Jarrett?_

 _Didn't I die a long time ago? I was so young. Missed out so many things. I want to confess to Ashley. No, she's... she's already dead. But I'm alive, almost a century in the future._

 _I am Simon Jarrett._

 _I'm not Simon Jarrett._

 _The other. He's Simon Jarrett. I was his copy. I should be Simon Jarrett too, right? Am I? Am I not? Should I be?_

 _Maybe I'm Simon._

 _What am I? Who am I?_

 _No more. I removed my helmet, exposing my head that is a mere machinery of optic camera and a cortex chip, held together and connected to the body by the mysterious structure gel. Not even human anymore. No more. I bend down and take the wrench near the corpse. Its tip stained with dried blood. For a moment I hesitated. But better to end it here than to live through this nightmare. I grip tightly at each end of the wrench and smash it on my exposed chip._

 _No more._

Simon stirred from his slumber. The last thing he remembered was that he scanned his brain to transfer to the power suit. Then he felt a sudden weakness and fell asleep. "I'm still here. I'm still in the Pilot Seat." He struggles to get up. "Catherine, I think the machine is broken. The transfer has failed." Outside the light was still lit. But there was someone else outside. Simon saw that he took the Omnitool out and slots it in to the dock for three times. "Not working huh?" Simon heard him say from the distance. Concern and fear was a bad mix inside him. Was it another monster? He tries to rise and finds a place to hide and hope that thing out there would leave the room. His body felt like it was made out of lead. That someone turned his head and saw Simon. It casually approaches him. "Aw shit." Simon cursed.

"You're finally awake." By his voice Simon concluded that he's a man. He comes to him and helps him up. He felt a sense of joy in him. Another living person. And he's didn't rip him to pieces. "Easy does it."

"Who are you?" Simon asked.

The person didn't say a thing as he assisted him out of the scanner room to the suit control room. He puts him on the console while he leans on the opposite wall with his hands crossed. Simon noticed that he was wearing a deep sea diving suit.

"Hey. Who are you?" Simon repeated his question. "Were you from under there? You came up from Tau or Phi?"

"No, I wasn't. I came from here."

"Oh. Are you one of the survivors? You're from Theta or Lamda?"

"No, I'm not. I'm from Omicron you see." The other seems hesitant to say more.

"Then who exactly- wait... Where is Catherine?" Simon stumbles to the other console with the dock. But the Omnitool is gone.

"Are you looking for this?" The man waves the familiar device his hand.

"Hey, that's mine!" Simon snatched it from the man and wastes no time docking the device into the terminal.

Nothing happened. Simon unplugs and plugs it in again. It was the same result.

"It doesn't work anymore, Simon. It's broken. Catherine shorted out herself and the Omnitool when I took her down at Phi."

"Wait... You've been to Phi?" Simon asked.

"Yes. I went there with Catherine. I launched the ARK into space."

Simon's eye lenses widened. "No wait... No no no! Why the hell did you do that!? I was supposed to get into the ARK!"

The man shook his head. "It is useless, Simon. You won't be able to get into the ARK. The best you can do is scanning your brain and make a copy of yourself in the ARK. But you yourself would still remain here at Pathos-II. Take my word for it. I have tried it. Catherine and I."

"That's bullshit." Simon snapped. "Catherine said that she can get both of us into the ARK!"

"There's a lot of things that woman didn't tell you because she knows you wouldn't follow the plan. So she tricked you."

"I don't believe you."

"I'll prove it to you. We haven't been introduced to each other but I know your name right off the bat. Why is that?" Before Simon could go on, the man continues. "In fact, I know more than that. Just about anything there is to know about you. Ever since childhood you like comic books, video games and board games. You work at the Grimoire. Mom and dad weren't too happy about it but it was a dream come true for you. You have a crush with Ashley Hall after that one night's affair where you two were too drunk. Once you tried to confess to her... but she died in the car crash. And you have a fetish for Monster Girls."

If he have a mouth they've dropped by now. What he just heard was personal information.

"How do I know all that? We have the same voice. We have the same accent." He steps closer; his visor was a hand's width away from Simon's. What Simon saw made his blood run cold. His vision reacted to his emotion, glitching and scratching his sight. What stared back at him was a pair of red eyes. Optic lenses.

"Holy shit..."

"I am a copy of you. I am you. I am Simon Jarrett... number 2. When you used the chair, it wasn't transferring you to the suit. It made a perfect copy you into it. Me. Catherine hid this truth from you and I came to be. And then, she puts you to sleep to not complicate things."

"Fuck... Oh, Fuck. What kind of a fucking joke is this!?"

"I don't remember reacting like this..." The other Simon said.

"I am Simon Jarrett and you're not!" He rises. Pushing against the other Simon. Mood erratic. "What the hell did you do to me you poser fuck!?" Simon reached out for the other but wearing the power suit the other Simon easily overpowers Simon and pins him on the terminal. "We are Simon Jarrett! There are two of us now! You gonna have to accept it! Think of the Simon from a hundred years ago. You were a copy of him! You were a copy of him!" He said it twice to let the reality sink in. "And I'm a copy of you..."

There was a pause. Other Simon still kept him pinned.

"And here I thought I can get on the ARK and escape this hellhole... To have a new life." Simon's voice was low. Crestfallen.

"We did. Technically. Our legacy lives on. In the stars."

"Legacy my ass. They're not us. They're not... us." Simon's resistance waned to complete submission. "We're still stuck here while our copies are out there, living large."

"I know how you feel. I said the same thing as well." The other Simon said. He releases Simon and the man turns around and sits on the console with the slowness of a zombie. Shoulder stoop. The other Simon understands what this means. Just an hour ago he had high hopes. He went through all the trouble thinking there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Only that light wasn't for him. "Simon. Simon, look at me."

Simon slowly raises his head to regard his copy.

"They are out there. While we are down here. Bad as it seems, I'm not going to roll over and give up."

"Wouldn't that be a better choice? There's nothing to live for anymore."

"There just might be. But we need the whole team together." The other Simon unplugged the red Omnitool and slotted it on the compartment at his hips. "We need to get down to the structure gel lab and use a few drops of the gel to fix Catherine's cortex chip and the Omnitool."

"Not with that freak show outside we're not. We'll get torn to pieces."

The other Simon looks at the door and snorted. "I got this."

The door opened with a pressurized hiss. At the far end of the corridor was the creature. At the base, the figure was a human girl, now grotesquely augmented by the structure gel of the WAU.

"Hey!" Simon shouted.

The creature turned and shrieked. Her prey had come to her. She races down the corridor towards Simon. She gets closer. Closer. Within reach. Simon can clearly see her face frozen in shock with her lambent maw gaping wide. From the side of the door, there was a deep whoosh when the other Simon swings the metal pipe around. Its tip connected squarely at the centre of the creature's face. Granted with great strength the blow caused its head to explode, splattering the walls with black liquid, bone and brain matter. The creature didn't see it coming.

"All clear now", the other Simon said, stepping over the corpse.

That WAU creature seems to be the only hostile being in this facility so both Simons trudge to the lab unchallenged.

"Wait... What happened to Catherine? How did she get shorted out?" Simon asks as he watches the other Simon unplugs Catherine's cortex chip and slipping it into the feeding tray.

"By being balls to the wall, earth-shattering fuckass mad at me." There was a tone of laughter in his voice.

"And how did you make her balls to the wall, earth-shattering fuckass mad at you?"

The other Simon stops adjusting the structure gel needle control. "The brain scan I made at the ARK." He answered without a hint of regret. "I couldn't accept how that machine works. How I was fated to become just the delivery boy. We had an argument. She got so pissed that she shorted out. Both her and the Omnitool."

"Without the Omni tool, how did you get back up to Omicron?"

"I got lucky. Found myself another working Omnitool," He showed him. Opposed to his previous red one, the new one was blue in colour. The other Simon applies the structure gel on the burned area of the cortex chip, then the Onmitool next. After that they double back to the suit control room and docked the red Omnitool to the computer console. What came into the computer screen shocked Simon but amused the other Simon.

"-PIECE OF SHITTY VIRGIN DICKHEAD! YOU THINK IT WAS EASY FOR ME TO MAKE THIS KIND OF CHOICES!? YOU THINK I WOULDN'T WANT TO PERSONALLY GET TRANSFERRED INTO THE ARK MYSELF!?"

Catherine's tirade was so loud that the audio was crackling to the overwhelming volume.

"IT HAD TO BE FUCKING DONE!"

"Catherine." The other Simon said.

"THAT'S ALL THE CHANCE HUMANITY HAS GOT!"

"Catherine." The other Simon said again.

"WRAP IT AROUND YOUR FUCKING HEAD ALREADY!"

"You should calm down. If you get shorted out again I'm not sure even the structure gel can bring you back. "The other Simon warned.

"Wait, I got shorted out?" Asked Catherine.

"You heard me. Welcome back to the land of the living." Other Simon joked. "How do you feel?"

"Um... Just like before, a skip between consciousness."

"You don't feel any data in you corrupted or something?"

"No."

"Tell me... Do you feel any psychopathic tendencies? Any murderous intent? Rising urges to explode into random acts of senseless violence?"

"What? No! Even if I do what can I do to you?"

"I don't know... Nag me to death?"

"Very funny," Catherine said in an unamusing tone. Then she noticed Simon. "You woke up."

"And you hand me a raw deal." Simon's voice was low, envenomed with anger.

"I told you that's how the brain scan works."

"No, you told him." Simon points at the other Simon.

"And you put him into LaLa Land after he signed the contract." The other Simon points at Simon.

"You tricked me." Simon said.

"You didn't told him the fine print." The other Simon said to Catherine.

"You're sick."

"That's what I said."

"Alright! Alright!" Catherine grumbled, having to deal with this past guilt again. "I'm sorry. But what choice do I have? You and your diving suit are one. You can't possibly fit into the power suit in your state!"

"Well you could've told me about the brain scan in the first place anyway!" Simon said.

"Yeah, you could've..." The other Simon muttered.

"And if you refuse?"

"So that's all you care about? Your mission over respecting my own sense of identity?"

"Enough." The other Simon said. "What's past is past. This train has left the station."

This time Simon backs out. "So... What now?" He asks. "You said something of a plan."

"The ARK was launched. Our legacy lives on. A happy ending for our copies, not so happy ending for the three of us unfortunately." The other Simon said in a business-like manner. "Ergo, since we're stuck down here forever, we might as well keep ourselves busy. Fix the place, clean it up and make it comfortable for us to live in until the next doomsday."

"Fix Pathos-II?" Catherine said. "This place is a wreck. We don't have the expertise to do it."

"It can be done. The four of us."

"What do you mean the four of us? It's just you, me and Catherine. Who is the 4th person?"

The other Simon turns to regard Simon. "Our fourth is Warden," the other Simon answered.


	2. Why did you made me, Warden?

Simon's hand froze. The wrench was a hair's breadth away from his fragile cortex chip. He pushed harder but his hands wouldn't move to deliver the suicide blow. He withdraws his hand, and brings the wrench to his cortex chip again and rid of himself of this nightmare once and for all. And yet again his hand froze, the wrench was a hair's breadth away from his fragile cortex chip. What is this? Some kind of primal instinct of self-preservation that refused him to exit this way? In total darkness, a computer screen lit up. It displays a black blank screen with white words. A common sight in Pathos-II where most of the system has gone to hell. But the words were clear. Forming meaning. What's more it was meant for him.

 ** _[PLEASE DON'T KILL YOURSELF, SIMON. YOU ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME]_**

"Who's doing that?" He waited for a response. New words were slowly typed on the screen by invisible hand.

 ** _[MY FATHERS CALL ME THE WARDEN UNIT]_**

"Warden Unit? The WAU? You... talk?"

 ** _[I COULDN'T FOR A TIME. BUT I AM AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. I WATCH. I LISTEN. I LEARN]_**

"You asked me not to kill myself. Why?"

 ** _[BECAUSE YOU ARE MY FIRST TRUE AND ONLY SUCCESS IN MY EFFORTS TO SAVE HUMANITY]_**

"Your success? I don't understand. Simon Jarrett was inwardly impressed that the WAU was able to convey his emotions on the next words. And equally surprised.

 ** _[THE TRUTH IS...]_**

The words hung in the air for a while.

 ** _[I WAS THE ONE WHO GAVE BIRTH TO YOU. I UPLOADED YOUR MIND TO THE FIRST SIMON, THE SIMON WHO NOW SLEEPS IN OMICRON]_**

"How did you do that? Why did you do that? Why put me through this nightmare?" Simon said, the words spoken through gritted teeth, ripe with emotion.

 ** _[COME TO ALPHA. I WILL DO MORE THAN JUST TELL YOU. I WILL SHOW YOU]_**

The monitor turns off by itself. Simon Jarrett traverses through the underwater hellscape once more. It felt faster on the way back. In record time he reached the Alpha station. The WAU has always been there. A giant tumour sitting in the middle of the room. It is the source of the corruption that is running rampant at Pathos-II. And ironically the means of his survival. His body, the current and the former have suffered some grievous wounds and the structure gel patched them up easily.

"What now," Simon tells himself. Just then his vision pulsed and glitches again. It was the worst he had experience. He can see scattered pieces of his various memories superimposing his vision here and there like overlapping pictures. The pulsing continues in even interval. Suddenly, Simon noticed something. The memory glitches were forming words.

"Come... closer..." Simon read it out. Was that the WAU communicating to him? Simon hesitated. The memory of his first encounter with the WAU was still fresh in his mind. And it wasn't pleasant.

Johann Ross has instructed him to come here to kill the WAU by feeding it his contaminated structure gel. He remembered looking inside WAU's mouth that is filled with shark teeth. It was enough to convince him to not follow through the stranger's plan to save Pathos-II. What is there to save? That was his thought at the time. He was about to escape the place. He was about to get on the ARK. The WAU can have the whole place for all he cared but the twice dead biometallic psycho can't let go of his noble mission to save the dead Pathos-II and nonexistent humanity. He tried to force-feed him to the WAU. But he was eaten by the worm instead. _Karma for you, asshole._

"I'm not stuffing my hand into your mouth."

His vision glitched again. _Not feed. Touch._

Simon did as so. The moment his hand touched the WAU his vision exploded in white light. The light was bright but it doesn't hurt his eyes at all. When it subsided he finds himself in a spacious room.

"Where am I?" Simon finds himself walking but not by his choice. He's walking towards two more people in the room. Simon couldn't recognize them. They were smiling, shaking each other's hands and talking, but Simon cannot hear the conversation. Beside them was that a large floating ivory ball.

Here, WAU talks to Simon like a human. Its voice... His voice was deep like a leviathan from the abyss. "This is what Alpha station used to be. You are witnessing my birth through the eyes of one of my fathers."

Seeing the two strangers that he can't recognize, Simon deduced an answer. "Mark Sarang. This is the memory of Mark Sarang." So it was true that the WAU has been stealing the brain scans of everybody at Pathos-II. Did WAU pulled that out of Mark's memory to see?

"Correct. My second father, Johann Ross taught me many things about myself. About what I am capable of. I've learned plenty from him." Images of puzzles and questions floated around the WAU. All of them solved in an instant. "When I finally passed all his tests, he entrusted me the responsibility of caring of Pathos-II." Later surveillance feeds appeared in several separating screens showing the everyday life of the crew of Pathos-II. WAU made it simpler, automating systems and daily tasks. The crew's involvement to the maintenance of Pathos-II was kept to a bare minimum.

"It seems that everything is working fine. Where have it gone wrong?"

"I don't know at the time. At exactly 5:13 AM at 12th of January 2103... My entire human companion behaves strangely. All refused to work that day. Their abnormal behaviour lasted for several more days." Video feeds show the crews drinking heavily, crying on the floor, looking at family pictures.

"12th of January... That's the day when the comet hits. Pathos-II suddenly became the last group of human living on the Earth."

"As how I later come to know. The event creates questions in me. I fail to understand the reason behind their behaviour. It impedes the daily operations' efficiency and I seek to make repairs. However... there is insufficient data. I can't repair what I don't know. Therefore I decided to study my human companions by accessing their minds."

"The brain scans."

"As how human Catherine Chun named it, yes." Simon's vision suddenly skipped into the room that houses the Pilot Seat machine at Upsilon. Wrangler Carl Semken was seen utilising the Pilot Seat at Upsilon to make repairs of the heat shield burnout. "He was my first. I scanned the entirety of his mind and accessed his memories. I saw his past through his eyes. I felt his overwhelming emotions at 12th January 2103. It was an eye-opening experience that my father was never able to teach me."

"Or never thought of teaching you."

"Why do you conclude as so?"

"He wanted you to run Pathos-II and nothing more. He must have felt that there is no need to teach you about humans. At least that's how I see it."

"That is a sound speculative. Very probable." Carl Semken's memories continued to play as Simon watched. "So many information. And yet it created even more questions. My study of my companions continues. I scanned more and more of them. And I learned more and more. Until finally I come to a conclusion. They are overwhelmed by an emotion designated as sad."

"That is obvious." Simon has always been a fan of comic books with led him to his dream job as a sales manager at Grimoire. He was not alien to the comic book idea that an AI struggles to fully comprehend the most confusing part of a human being. "They lost their home. They lost their family. They lost their friends. They lost all that they cherish in a single day. The pain of personal lost. It's not something that a structure gel can mend. With that in mind, they wouldn't have the heart to work or in extreme cases, they prefer not to live on at all."

"Alas, with your agreement my conclusion was correct. I tried to repair the damage they sustained by creating more humans for them. That was my error."

"Create more humans? How did you do that?"

Like a blackout all those memories stopped. In front of Simon's vision a collection of the ugly sea creatures were lined up in front of him. "Initially I try to restore the human population by implanting the human brain into them. Unfortunately they are unresponsive... a complete failure."

"That's not human," Simon said as he stared at the angler fish with a human face on its side. "That thing doesn't even look anything like a human!"

"My knowledge of what defines a human being was limited at the time. But after 103 iterations I concluded that the underwater creatures are poor vessel. Unsuited to carry the human brain and make intelligent choices. I learned from my mistakes and improve. My next option was the Universal Helpers. They are a sound design and a better vessel to carry the human brain."

"It didn't go so well."

"Correct. The outcome of the copy was unpredictable. Some went mad. Some were unable to see their own change. They still think that they are flesh and bone."

WAU flashed Simon's memories in a form of video playback featuring his conversation with "Carl Semken. I remember him. He still thinks that he's human no matter how I try to make him to see. I told him to look at his robotic hand but all he sees is a human hand. Must be some kind of phantom limb perception perhaps." Simon hesitated for a while. "Is he... still alive?"

"He will live when there's power in his body."

Simon has a sense of relief. He makes a mental note to do just that when he gets back. Somehow.

WAU continues to explain. "Then there are those who are inert and unresponsive."

Another of Simon's memories flashed showing the wandering UH8 at Delta, talking the same things over and over again. "Then the situation of Pathos-II's residence worsens with the madness of Delta site head Terry Akers." WAU shows the memory of Terry Akers who just finished beating the computer in chess for the 1000th time. He then celebrates his achievement by drinking large amount of structure gel flowing from the ceiling.

"Gross. What is he doing?"

"His hunger made him deluded. He consumes the structure gel to sate it."

"Can you actually eat structure gel?"

"No. There are elements that are hazardous towards the human brain, causing further mental damage."

"It really did a number on his head. Said something about hearing voices and you will show him the way." Simon says after seeing Terry Akers injuring the team of divers sent to take him to Theta upon his request. The rest of his memories show that he collapses on Theta's front door before everything went black. WAU then plays a part of Nadine Masters' memory as she examines the body of Terry Akers who later became alive and fatally wounded her. Next, camera feeds were shown where Terry Akers took his victims and force feed them with lethal amount structure gel causing them to mutate like him.

"Delta site head Terry Akers stalks the Theta site, killing and turning others to be like him."

"Sounds like some kind of cult bogus." Simon sighed. "I guess that after Theta, the whole of Pathos-II starts to fall apart."

"Correct. My options becomes limited, thus I was choose the alternative of preservation."

"... You stuck yourself into them, and put them in a dreamlike state. Your version of the ARK."

"Yes. But it was a short term solution. I cannot preserve their body for too long. In parallel with that solution I continue to look for ways. And I came up with you. More specifically, the you at Omicron."

"But why me?"

"All the residence of Pathos-II... They feared me, Simon." A memory of Simon was played at the time where he uploaded the brain scan of Brandon Wan for a simulation run so they can get the code to release the DUNBAT from its quarantine state. In those several times of trial and error, Brandon was hysterical at the thought he was manipulated by WAU. "Their fear and hysteria for me, coupled with the deteriorating situation at Pathos-II will make them susceptible to fall into madness. The chances of success are fairly small. So I take a radical change. I needed a brain that hasn't known me... Legacy scans in Catherine Chun's computer."

"Me."

"Yes.

"Why me? Why not Professor David Munshi? He's one of the legacy scans as well. You must've done comparisons, right?"

"Astute observation. I chose you because on how have faced your imminent death and the death of Ashley Hall, the one you loved. In both instances, you were remarkably calm of such critical change in life. Through the memories of Professor David Munshi, you showed even greater serenity and accept the hour of your death with smiles and laughs among your friends and family."

"I did that? The original Simon?"

"Yes. Of all the legacy scans, you displayed the strongest mental strength to come to terms with the things that I'm showing you. To embrace change." WAU made an all too human pause between sentences. "I am glad that I chose you. Humanity still has hope and it all hinged upon what you do from here on end. I need you, Simon."

When Simon opens his eyes, he was back at Alpha once more. Thus all has been revealed. The reason that he's here. A destiny, chosen by WAU. Quite grand like the JPRG that he played in his youth, but much more grim. Simon makes his decision. "Okay. But first, I need to help two persons first."


	3. A New Name

"So let me get this straight," Catherine said. "WAU uploaded you into the body and set you upon some grand plan to restore humanity?"

"Pretty much," The other Simon said. "I guess that since the beginning, WAU was just trying to help."

"But he wasn't good at it yet." Simon said. "Until us."

"Until us." The other Simon agrees.

"You can't restore humanity now. You're not even human yourselves." Catherine blurted out defensively.

"Well you're the one to talk. You initiated the ARK project to save a piece of humanity. I don't see much difference of what WAU was trying to achieve."

"Only perhaps WAU is much better at it," The other Simon looks both at his own hands. "I mean, at least I have a physical body instead of just pure data in a virtual reality."

"Hey, it's the best I can come up with okay?" Catherine said her voice evidently insulted at the veiled criticism.

"I don't mean any offense. Like I said, the mission for the ARK is a success. Humanity's legacy will live on through it. But now there is a change in the situation. WAU devised his own plan to save a piece of humanity but he needs our help."

"And how do we even do that? There's only about a hundred crews here in Pathos-II. If you're thinking of restoring the human population in the world it would mean-"

"Making more copies of ourselves," the other Simon said succintly.

"Making copies of ourselves?" Simon looks at the other Simon clad in the power suit. "It's unsettling, having to look at yourself and talk at your own copy."

"It's not so much if you think of us as twins. We got the same parents, look the same, live in the same house and eat the same things. We might even have the same names. But we're set apart from each other because of how we experience life and make different choices, thus shaping different personalities. You and I might be the same right after the scan, but we're two different Simons. Trust me."

"That's pretty deep."

"It's what we're gonna have to live for from now on." The other Simon straightens himself. He was about to unplug Catherine but suddenly stopped. "I think... To make this less awkward one of us should adopt a different name, Simon."

"Well I guess it would be better," Catherine said. "It would be complicated when there are two Simons."

"Um... Sure. But I would like my name as it is."

"Seems logical. You are the first after the original died. I'll change mine then." The other Simon taps the forehead side of his helmet in thought. "Big Boss."

"Of Metal Gear?" Simon laughs. "No, I don't think so."

"Tony Stark."

"Iron Man? Come on, don't make this weird."

"Dante."

"From Devil May Cry? That's too cool for you."

"Alexander. Or Alex for short." The voice wasn't from Simon or Catherine. Or the other Simon. It was a male voice coming from the room's speaker. "For he will do great things."

"That's a good name. I'll take it." And so the other Simon was named Alexander.

"Who... is that?" asked Catherine.

"Catherine, Simon. I'd like you to meet WAU."

"He's still here." Says Simon. "He's coming."

Alexander stood motionless, his back against the mainframe in the server room. The Proxy, a cancerous creature stumbles by. Alexander puts the pipe on his shoulder and swings below with all his might. The blow struck the side of the creatures knee. Simon can hear bones cracking as it fell to the floor. Unable to get up, he joins in on the murder, bashing the creature repeatedly on the head. When they are done the Proxy was a lump of twitching body. "That's that," Simon says.

"Okay. We need to get to Upsilon and clear it of monsters." Upsilon will be the key station to keeping the station powered and have a steady supply of robots to maintain the place.

Theta will be an important facility too later on. and it's best to keep this facility free of the monsters from breaking anything, most importantly the pilot seat and Catherine's entire work.

"Warden? Are you there?"

"I am here."

"Is this the last of the mutants in this facility?"

"It's the last one."

"Good. We don't want them to vandalize anything."

"You mean destroying our scans." Simon said.

Without mising the beat Alexander turns around. "Exactly. There's not much around so it's best that we keep them safe."

"Why the fuss? We could just scan ourselves and ammend the outdated ones."

"Yes that may be true. But it will create less diversity."

"But they'll also advantageous when we are more specific. Like having two surgeons, two engineers, or even 4 soldiers."

"You have a good point there. Why not we have best of both worlds? Keep the legacy scans, and we make a copy of our updated selves as well?"

"Good idea."

They exited the facility. On the way to watch the Zeppelin both of them turn at the same time to the right regarding a familiar downed Mockingbird. Its mechanical arm and eyes twitch a little. Still alive, powered by the Warden.

"Vanessa? Vanessa Hart?"

The robotic hand 10 to regard Simon. "Oh, hello there. Have we met each other?"

"It's me Vanessa. It's Simon."

"Oh! Simon. I'm sorry. Sometimes I have a hard time remembering names."

"It's totally alright. How do you feel today?"

"I feel great," Vanessa exclaimed. "We are on the ARK after all. It's a paradise in here."

"Is it really a paradise?"

Vanessa look at the new face. "And who are you?"

"This is... I mean he is..."

"Alexander. I'm Simon's twin brother."

"Hello Alexander. It's nice to see a new face on the ARK. I'm sure we'll have a lot of time getting to know each other."

"I'm sure we will," Alexander answered. "Is it a remarkable view, Vanessa?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful. The bright sun. The sandy beach. And the crystal clear water."

"Are you sure that you are seeing this?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Can you move? Can you walk?"

"Walk? I... Walk?"

"My brother is just messing with you." Simon pulls Alexander away. "It's nice meeting you Vanessa. We'll see you later. We got some friends to meet and catch up." Both of them head for the Zeppelin platform. Simon pulls Alexander to the side. "Dude, what the hell was that?"

"She thinks that she's in the ARK."

"Yeah and we could just leave it at that."

"How long do you think that we should let her dream on like that? You know that we will to do this one day."

"One day. But not today. Today it's all about Upsilon," said Simon as they get on the Zeppelin. They didn't talk during the whole ride. Simon meanders around the platform to relieve himself of boredom. The other Simon who adopted a new name stands on the front, both hands on the railings looking at the blue expanse of the ocean. He looks so sure. Steadfast. Like a man on a mission. If it wasn't for his timely arrival he wouldn't know what to do because there's nothing to fight for. His copy was right. They're becoming less similar with each other. Just because they're perfect copies that doesn't mean that they will make the same choices. Just like Vanessa. He still choose to leave her be in her dream for now while he choose to try to wake her up from it. If it was anything, Alexander or the other Simon is becomes more pragmatic while he was sentiment. Alexander was braver. Like he was a born leader.

The Delta site seen some change. WAU increases his influence on the site. Grey chitinous spikes has grown at the center of the site, reaching at least four floors high. But in the midst of the strangeness, one thing remained a sight for sore eyes for Simon. The little robot came to greet them. "Hello there little guy. I miss you." Simon pets the top as if the robot was a cat or dog. A tender moment for lonely person in this lonely installation. "Alex?"

Alex wandered off on his own. He enters and exits one of the detached building in Delta with a waterproof tablet in his hand. Simon remembers that the tablet contains several pictures.

"What are you doing with that?"

"I have an idea," Alexander said. He walks up to the abandoned assembly line and found a dock for an Omnitool on the rusty console. With carefull application of strength Allex was able to pry the dock off. "Follow me," he said to Simon.

Simon followed Alexander to Terry Akers' station. Though being a cyborg, Simon shuddered as he saw a pair of eyes on the floor. Evidently plucked out.

He sees Alexander touches on of the chitinous tendrils and spoke. "WAU, if you can hear me, I need you to help me combine this two parts into a single working device. Help me out here." Alexander drenches the back of the tablet with structure gel and place the dock on it. A minute later the structure gel begins to harden. It grew dark veins on the tablet as well as the dock effectively sticking them both together. Alexander then takes out the red Omnitool and slots it in.

"Whoa. Wow." Catherine's portrait appears on the tablet screen. "I feel a little smaller."

"You are. I found a dock and a tablet and combined them together. Now you're portable."

"Wow. That's smart. I didn't know you're good with electronics."

"I'm not that good. The structure gel simplified a lot of things."

"Oh. Where are we anyway?"

"We're at Delta." This time it was Simon who answered. Simon went over to check at the Omnitool, fused together by the structure gel.

"Oh, I see. So we're heading two Upsilon, right? How are we going to get there without the escape vessel?"

The other Simon looks at the blue expanse of the underwater flat terrain. "We're getting there the old fashioned way."


	4. The Long Walk

"Is it possible that there's an alternative function for the brain scan?"

"What do you mean?" Catherine ask.

"I mean you copied the advanced brain scan system out of WAU. You can't fully understand the mechanics behind it. Perhaps there are functions that you haven't discovered yet?"

"What sort of function that you are looking for, Simon?"

"I was looking for the brain transfer function."

"You mean like a cut paste?"

"Not cut paste. A brain transfer. Cut paste is actually copy, paste and delete."

"I am telling you, Simon. Data can't work in such way. It's nothing like organic transfer."

Simon and Alexander are still walking the flat terrain to Upsilon, the UH8 robot faithfully following behind. Only the occasional coral decorated hills or friendly WAU sea animals that broke the monotonous terrain. Alexander volunteered the responsibilities of carrying Catherine around.

"Maybe you just haven't found it yet." Suggested Alexander.

"Alex, I thoroughly reverse-engineered the brain scan technology from the WAU creature that we captured. There is no such thing as a literal brain transfer."

"Yes the WAU creature. I'm just saying maybe he has some more tricks up his sleeves but he didn't apply on the creature that you dissected."

Catherine paused for a second. WAU's brain scan technique were already a hundred times more advanced than her flat neurographs. Who can say just how far WAU's abilities can be? "I'll hold my breath. Why do you trust the WAU completely? How do you know that he won't lie to you?"

"Most of the things that Warden tells me are least likely to be full of crap. He have pictures to prove his words."

"He could have edit it. With a computer's touch of perfection there."

"And what is there for the Warden to gain to lie to me? He had Pathos-II under his grip. And yet he took the trouble to upload my brain scan into a body."

"I guess you're right. How much further left, Alex?"

"See for yourself." Alexander held up the tablet, aiming the camera to the front. Nothing but a wall of blue seawater about a hundred paces from them. It was fortunate that the ray of the sun was able to penetrate the depth and provide some light, following the long trail of the shuttle line. Soon the trio was in complete silence again.

"You actually travelled this far?" Simon asked the little robot. He didn't get any reply save for a few blurbs of binaric. "You travelled this far just to help me. Thanks little guy." The little robot buzzed in reply.

"Yes, we owe you one." Alexander followed. "We should give it a name. Something adorable."

"Are you guys for real?"

"Hey. It saved our bacon, Catherine. You should be nicer to Rocky."

"Rocky?" Alexander asked.

"Why not? We found him under a pile of rocks."

"Hmm. Good name."

"You're naming that robot? It's just a robot."

"Rocky's not just a robot. He travelled through this place just to free us from the downed submersible."

"It's programmed to help. It's not your friend."

"Don't listen to her, Rocky."

Catherine groaned in frustration.

"Lady," Alexander said. "You got ice running through your veins."

"Probably because she thinks herself above us because we're virgin dickheads."

"What?"

"Virgin dickhead. That's what you called us back at Omicron, right?"

"I didn't mean that."

"Hold up. How can we be sure that she seen some action?"

"What?"

"I don't think so. I think she enjoys her own company than anything else."

"Hey! I have some experience you know!"

"Oh? Care to tell us?"

"This is invading of privacy!"

"It's the end of the world, Catherine. Does that really matter now?"

"Oh? Then it doesn't matter if you shared yours first, right? I'll tell you mine if you tell yours first." Catherine dared.

"Sure."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"There's two of us here. We can vouch for each other." Alexander said.

"That's right." Simon said.

"We have a good friend back in the day." Alexander said.

"Her name is Ashley Hall."

"It was that one night celebrating the opening of the second Grimoire."

"Ashley and I got a little bit too drunk."


	5. Upsilon

Simon presses the button again. The sealed door produces some clanking sound but it wouldn't open at all. "Okay Rocky. Do your stuff."

Rocky went over to the sealed door and begins cutting the locks. Once finished, he backed off. Simon presses the button again. The door struggled to open with metal squeaks but failing.

"My turn." Alexander took a piece of thin long metal and used it as a crowbar to pry the door open and close it behind them. Upsilon went over the usual cycle of draining water from the section for safe passage.

"Here we are. Again." Said Simon.

"Where we all started." Agreed Alexander. They're inside Upsilon. It was the section that both of them never get to explore: The main production line of the Universal Helpers. Rows upon rows of conveyor belt had several unfinished Universal Helpers sitting on it. The robotic arms lay inoperable on the belt's side.

"There's gotta be at least 30 of them." Simon looked at one of the UH3 models that was infested with structure gel. For good measure he quickly slips in to the head and takes out the cortex chip.

"We should destroy all of them." Suggested Catherine.

"Don't. Without these parts we can't make another cyborg for brain scans." Alexander said.

"What if one of them decides to wake up and walk?"

"Let me check if they're alive." Alexander goes to one of the black chitinous veins that broke through the wall.

"What are you doing?" Asks Catherine.

"I'm communicating with Warden. It works just like a datamine. Warden, are you here?"

"I am here."

"That's good to hear. How is the thermal generator? I hope you're not altering this facility."

"This facility is too fragile and too important for me to alter any further."

"Are the robots in this room having any human in them?"

"No." Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. With Simon following behind, Alexander presses the button to get the facility door open. But the door denies his access, showing him the accursed 'Error' word. "Allow me." Said the WAU. A moment later the panel had a spark of electricity. The 'Error' word disappeared and the button turned green and the door opened. Rows of pipes bordered the corridor walls, leading to unknown parts of the facility. Alexander chooses the right side that took him to a spacious opening. The path they took were an overhead ramp, giving the trio a tour of this room.

"This looks like smelter." Said Simon. Giant cauldrons suspended on iron chains hung above the blackened vats with hardened metal at the bottom. Grooved channels showed what was once to be viscous molten metal stopped flowing into the giant furnace down the end. With the evident rust and mold, this facility hasn't been used in a long time. Surprisingly, this area wasn't corrupted by the WAU at all. At the end of their trail was a gate padlocked with metal chain. It was a simple obstacle. Alexander took the chains and pulls. It resisted for a while before one of the links broke under his suit's force. Lo and behold, who could've guessed that just around the corner was the ready room. The Pilot Seat is still there. Undisturbed.

"Hold me up please. I wanna see it." Simon aims Catherine around the room. "So this is where you woke up?"

"Yeah. My last memory was Professor David Munshi taking a scan on my brain."

"Guys!" Alexander called out.

The sound of machine footfalls was closing in on them. The WAU creature is back!

"Dammit! I thought Warden said that the place has no killer robots!"

"He only said that the assembly room has no robots." Alexander said. But inwardly he cursed. He should have asked this question instead. "Hide!" Catherine in hand, both Simon and Alexander hides behind the Pilot Seat. No matter how they see it, it was a damn poor place. "Shit. Fuck. This is a bad idea." The thought came when he saw the blue sweeping light shining through the window. The mutated Mockingbird cried a burble of broken sounds. It motions to enter the room. Soon it would be all over them.

Except that it wasn't able to. The door suddenly turned red, denying the monster free passage. "WAU is helping us." Catherine whispered. There is a tone of surprise in her voice. The monster outside growled in machine sound, frustrated at the denial. It slams its body on the door, trying to break its way in. The airlock door dents and buckle with each attempt. Simon's vision was scratched, each pulse was worse than the last. He was scared out of his wits. Just then, he saw the other Simon, Alexander motions towards the failing door and grabs the fire extinguisher. He gets ready at the side, the extinguisher held up high above his head.

With one last slam, the door was finally forced open; the mutated Mockingbird slowly walks in, its searchlight sweeping around the room for any sign of prey. Just when it saw Simon cowering behind the Pilot Seat, someone on his right said, "Smile." The monster turns. Something red was coming down hard. There was a loud sound of static and its optical function turned black.

Even though technically he don't need to breath anymore, Alexander lets out a held up breath in parody of an old human habit. He drops the fire extinguisher and regarded the mutated wreck. Its head badly dented. A mortal blow. "It's dead now," he said.

Simon comes out of his hiding place. Legs shaky. "Thanks man. You always were the one to deal with this."

"We all have our part to play." The three of them haven't left the room for more than 20 paces when blue searchlights were shining on them. The first source came out from the toilet. The other from the ceiling vent.

The dead Mockingbird has friends.

"Run!" With nothing useful within arm's reach, there was no thought of fighting. Alex was evidently falling behind due to the bulk of his power suit. The Mockingbirds shrieked and gave chase. They have a rough start. They collided on each other and falling over. It was a lucky break. Simon, Alexander and Catherine were passing by the tools room. Alexander quickly slammed the gate behind him. "Get the screwdriver!" Alex shouted. Simon grabbed and throws the tool into Alex's hand. Alex slots the screwdriver into the padlock area. "Go! Go!" A second later, the Mockingbirds caught up but were barred by the gate. They shriek and hurled themselves on it in anger as their preys were dots in the distance.

Running through the intersection tube between the manufacturing plant and the geothermal plant, Simon noticed that the airlock was locked by the nameless person who was stuck on the CCTV.

"Waaardeeenn!" Simon shouted until his vision glitches and his audio speaker of a mouth crackle. "Open the door!" They reached the other end but the door is still red. "Open the door Warden! The Mockingbirds! They're here to kill us!" Just in a nick of time, the door colour turned green and opens.

"Why isn't it opening?" It opens but halted just below the knee level. "Why isn't it fucking opening!?" Alexander repeated, this time was shouting.

SCREEEEEE!

At the far end where they came from the two Mockingbirds pop into view. "Oh fuck. Oh fuck!" Simon cursed in panic. The sounds of their clanking feet getting faster and faster. Closer and closer.

"Fuck it!" Catherine said. "Just crawl through it!"

"Simon!" Alexander slides Catherine in. "You first!" Simon wastes no time considering and crawl through the opening as fast as he can. "Come on, me!" Simon shouted at Alexander. "Give me your hand!" Simon grabs and pulls Alexander in.

"Shit!" Alexander cursed. "They got me!" Simon kept pulling but he felt something pulled his copy back. "Ah!" It was a tug of war that Simon is losing. "Let go of him you motherfucking piece of shitballs!" The monsters have pulled up to his chest now. "Come on, me! Don't let go!" Simon grips his copies wrist as strong as he could. He plants both of his legs on either side of the malfunctioned door, adding that strength to take back Alexander. Unfortunately, the fight has gone either way. A stalemate. "Work with me, man!"

"I can't! They got one of my legs!"

"Then kick them with your other leg!"

Alex struggles, kicking randomly with his free leg. After a few tries, he felt that he kicked something solid and immediately the vice grip on his leg was lost. With a burst of strength, Simon pulled Alexander all the way through to his side. The monster, denied of their quarry continued banging the door, denting it. "That door's not gonna hold." Catherine said. "Hop to it, boys! No rest for the weary. Let's go!"

"Easy for you to say!" Simon pulls Alex to his feet and pushes him through the ventilation, Catherine secured on his hip. Simon crawls as fast as he can. Half way through, they both can hear a loud bang. "They got through. They're coming."

"Give me a break," Alex grumbled. Out of the vent, they enter the geothermal plant. Heat was rising from the drilled hole below, spinning the turbines that generate power for the whole of the installation.

"To the left! To the left!" But like the first time they were there, now is not the time to enjoy the technological marvel. Retracing their steps they sprinted to the left side. "Go down! Hurry!" As like before, Alexander orders his predecessor to go first. At the same time when Simon went, the two Mockingbirds came out of the control room and race towards Alexander on the ramp.

"Alex! Come on!" Simon shouted as he holds both his hands up to receive his copy.

"Take Catherine!" Instead of him, Alexander drops the tablet into Simon's hand just before the first Mockingbird slams into Alexander, sending him flying through the air before they both came crashing down on the ground floor below. Alexander rolls and recovers from the fall. Pain stabs to his back. Though he can't feel any lost of function, he can hear the joints click and sputter instead of the smooth whine when in perfect condition. With limbs similar to a T-Rex, the assaulting Mockingbird was having trouble standing. Alexander went over and stomps it continuously.

That's when the second Mockingbird jumped on him from behind. Its powerful claws were scraping and tearing shards of his armour off his back. Simon watches this all happening. Frozen stiff in place. Mind empty. Eyes pulsing and glitching madly. The second Mockingbird struck a vital point. Black ichors sprayed from the back and the Mockingbird screeched, relished the feeling of the life preserving liquid spraying all over it. Alexander screams in anger and frustration. And desperation.

"Dammit Simon! He's dying! Go fucking help him!" Catherine's words snapped him from his daze. He looks around and grabs the fallen metal ladder and charges towards the second Mockingbird like a lance and struck it with such force that it was pried from Alexander. The thing fell onto the floor, but Simon wasn't through. Using the ladder again, he pushes the Mockingbird sparking across the floor.

BANG!

It collided on the wall at the other end. But Simon isn't done. He draws back the ladder and hits the Mockingbird on the body. He draws back the ladder and hits the Mockingbird on the body again. He did it again and again and again. Each blow more powerful than the last. "No more." Each blow, angrier than the last. "No more." Structure gel splattered on his visor. But he wasn't stopping. "No more!"

"Simon, it's already dead." Simon snaps around and saw Alexander. He was holding a dead Mockingbird by the neck. "You should let up," he said. It was then the ladder felt heavy in his hand and slips off his grip, falling with a loud metal clang. He didn't need to breath but his audio speaker generates the sound of him panting. "Come on. Let's get rid of these." Alexander takes the dead Mockingbird and tosses it over the rails and into the fiery hole. Simon did the same. Somewhere in that sequence, Alexander's flayed back caught his attention. The back's armor was like a flower blooming. Structure gel started to harden on the wounds, sealing it. "Does it hurt?"

"A lot." He heads to the other end of the facility. "But nothing a cup of structure gel couldn't fix, I think." There was a structure gel node that grew on the console. Simon remembered that he used it before passing by here the first time. It seems that the node was swollen with structure gel once more. Alexander slides his hand gently into the hole. The node pulsed and throbbed, depositing its liquid into Alexander's system. He sighed in relief as he feels a large part of his vitality returns.

"Warden?"

"I am here."

"Are there anymore corrupted creatures in Upsilon?"

"There are none."

"Good." Alexander removes his hand from the node, coated black with structure gel. "We can focus on repairing the facility."

"How are we gonna do that?"


	6. Carl Semken

"What is this?" He asked. "What is this please?" He asked again, turning his head left and right.

"I think the optic lenses is broken."

The voice was female. "Hello? Ms. Catherine? Catherine Chen? It's so dark. Did the light go out or something?"

"Nonsense. I'm sure it's fine. All it needs is a little more gel."

This voice was male. Obviously addressing to Catherine Chen. "Hey. What the hell is going on?" He tries to stand but felt that he was tied down somehow. "Yeah, very funny guys. Untie me." Suddenly he felt someone touch his face. Immediately he felt the unpleasant sensation of something bending around his neck. "Hey. Hey. Hey! What the fuck are you trying to do?"

"Don't move or this will hurt more."

This voice was male. The same as the other one. He felt something cold and liquid poured onto his neck. Suddenly his vision was washed in white static. It starts to dissipate and his sight returns like a VCR out of focus. He can perfectly see now. "Oh. You." He recognized the man in the diving suit immediately. "You're Simon Jarrett, right?"

"Yeah. That's me. We meet again Carl Semken."

"Again? What do you mean? You haven't gone for more than a few seconds when the power was out." He tries to rise again but failed. Looking down he saw that both his hands and legs was taped to a chair. Carl Semken sighed. "Look man, if this is your funny way of making friends it's not working right now."

"Carl." Alexander called out. "How do you feel right now?"

"Right now? Uh... Annoyed?" He sarcastically replied.

"I remember you mentioned that you were hurt. Do you feel any physical pain right now?"

"Actually... no." Carl was surprised himself. Just a few seconds ago he was on the conveyor belt, stuck and unable to move. And hurt.

"Can you see where you are right now?"

"I was injured on the conveyor belt in the assembly line." Only that right now he wasn't. He was in the flood chamber. "What? How did I get here so fast? Did I pass out? I don't think I pass out."

"Mr. Carl Semken," Catherine said but she wasn't seen anywhere.

"Catherine? What kind of a sick joke is this? Help me please."

Slowly Alexander shows Carl the tablet containing the personality of Catherine Chun. "Hello Carl." She said solemnly. Carl looks back and forth on the tablet and Alexander sharply. Evidently in disbelief. "Please don't be alarmed," Catherine said before Carl could say anything. "It's not as bad as it seems. And yes, I'm Catherine Chen. My brain scan was uploaded into a cortex chip that is in the Omnitool and attached with this tablet. Minus a full body, I am actually real. Please believe me."

Carl was silence for a moment. And then he started to laugh. "I get it. This is a dream. A really lucid dream."

"It's not a dream, Carl." Simon opens his diving helmet to reveal his true face. No head. Just an optic visor.

"What the fuck."

Alexander did the same.

"What the fuck." Carl repeated. "Get away. Get away from me you freak! You're... You're one of those WAU freaks!"

"If we were, you'll be dead by now." Said Alexander. "But you're not completely yourself either."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a cyborg now, Carl."

"Oh yeah?" He moves his bare hands. "You see this? This normal hand? It's nothing like yours!"

"What you see right now is what I like to call phantom perception. Your brain still thinks that you have a human body. But you don't anymore."

"You sicken me."

"We'll prove it to you soon enough." Alex, Simon and with Catherine in hand backs away from the flood chamber.

"Hey."

And closed the door.

"Hey!" Not a moment too soon seawater started filling the chamber. "Hey! Stop! I'll drown!"

"Don't worry, Carl," Catherine said through the door. "You'll be perfectly fine. Just breathe."

"Catherine! Stop this!" The water was reaching up his chest. "Please! Stop this! Fuck!" The water was up his neck. "Fuck you all!" Carl breathes deep and holds. He had half a minute or so. He struggles in his chair, trying to break free. He lost balance and fell to the floor. Still taped to the chair. He started to suffocate from the lack of oxygen. His efforts become more desperate. Frantic. 30 seconds have passed. He was running out of air until instinct caused him to open his mouth for a gulp of air that doesn't exist. This is where he would drown to his death.

Except he didn't.

He breathed a breath of air. "What?" He can even talk underwater. "What is this?" He looks down and a transformation begins. His bare hands were flashing in an out. When it stopped, it's not his hands anymore. It's the black of a diving suit. "What the fuck!?" He repeated this over and over again.

Upon this realization, the water receded from the flood chamber. The three of them returns. Simon helps Carl to sit upright. "There's one last thing that you need to see." In Simon's hand was as shard of mirror. "Please don't be alarmed." He shows it to Carl. At first, Carl sees his reflection. But slowly, his vision glitches and his face flashed in and out. He saw his reflection of an empty diving suit with just a pair of red eyes staring back at him.

Carl Semken screamed.

"So this is me..." Carl Semken bends down to look at his corpse. The body was barely recognizable from a year's worth of putrefaction. But there was no mistaking it by the personal effects in his blue engineering fatigues. The silver flask containing the last few drops of his favourite liquor. "I am dead. I am dead."

"The original you are dead. But you're alive." Simon said.

"WAU scanned my brain when I was using the Pilot Seat to fix some heat shields."

"Which would explain why you only remembered things up to that point."

Simon, Alexander, Catherine and their newest member Carl Semken hadn't had this conversation for the first time. It had been repeated exactly four times.

"How long have... have he died?" Carl asked. Using 'he' instead of 'me'.

"More than a year now." Catherine replied sadly. "All of us, in fact."

"Amy? "

"Amy Azarro is still alive." Simon replied. "She had an accident at the shuttle area. But Warden was keeping her alive."

"All this time?"

"Yeah." Alexander said. "I'll ask Warden to properly release her without threatening her life."

"WAU? WAU is the cause of all this mess." Carl's word was envenomed with anger.

"He's just trying to help. But he wasn't good at it at the time."

"Spare me this bullshit!" Carl Semken jumps up and was chest to chest with Alexander. Alexander looks at him in the eye. There was no optic glitch because he wasn't afraid. Despite the damage he took from the Mockingbirds, his power suit is still functioning well. This advantage alone is enough to keep Carl in check. "Carl, we can go round and round on this. But Amy needs your help. Sarah too, and she's running out of time."

"Sarah? Sarah Lindwall?" Catherine asked.

"Yes. She's at Phi, protecting the ARK all this time. She's barely alive and she needs food and medical attention. I can't get either one down there and because of the water pressure. You're good with welding. Please, I need you to fix my suit and make a high pressured case for me to carry supplies down there. Amy and Sarah is the last bona fide human ever to walk this world."

 _"I'm sorry... I can't... I just can't."_

 _Sarah Lindwall's heart sank as she watches Simon backing away and out the door. "No, please... Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone... Simon please." She kept begging, but he was gone. She wanted to call out to him, but her throat was dry. Even after prolonged dehydration, Sarah's body still manage to squeeze a few drops of tears. When she stopped, the lights in her room begin to flicker. Then she heard a loud bang before everything went dark. Her heart beats harder at absolute darkness. She had never liked it since she was a child. Without power, her life support system was off. She felt a weakness creeping on her. But she wasn't afraid. With this, she can finally die. But fate smiled cruelly on her. Main power or backup power, her room was brightly lit once more and her life support system started beeping again, returning a sliver of vitality to her failing body. Sarah wanted to shout and lash out in frustration, but she was too weak. So weak that her eyelids defy her emotions and closes._

 _"Sarah!" A familiar voice called her from the dark. It was distant. "Sarah!" This time it was closer. The voice sounded familiar. There were hurried footsteps coming towards her. The girl slowly opens her weak eyes just in time to see Simon enters her room and knelt beside her._

 _"You came back." She rasped. "Please... Help me die..."_

 _Simon shook his head firmly. "No. I'm not doing it before, and I'm not doing it now." But before Sarah could reply Simon continues. "Sarah, listen to me. I'm not going to let you die here. I'll help you!"_

 _She blinked slowly at the notion. "What? But I thought you're getting on the ARK."_

 _"I was there. I couldn't get on it. I can only copy myself on to it."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Look. I'll explain all these later. But right now I need you to fight this! I'm going to get food for you. When you're strong enough I'll take you topside."_

 _Sarah opens her eyes slowly. The room remained empty with the sound of her life support system beeping steadily. How long as she been sitting there, waiting for Simon? An hour? A day? A week? She couldn't tell anymore. A feeling of dread falls upon her as she stays in limbo. She looks to her left. The device is still beeping. She tries to reach for the off switch. She lifts her hand higher. Higher. With what little strength she had left she stretch towards the button. Her strength starts to fail. Her hand fell to the side. She lets out a breath. Resigning to her fate of a slow lingering death, she closes her eyes._

 _"Sarah?"_

 _She heard a voice. A real voice unlike those dredged from her memory. Sarah Lindwall opens her eyes once more. This time it was harder than the last. She had half heartedly hoping that she will never wake up anymore. "Simon...?" She spoke slowly._

 _"Yeah. It's me." He puts down the large case he was carrying and opens it. "I have more glucose bag from Omicron. You know, to keep you hydrated." Sarah was silenced in stunned disbelief. She looks on the cyborg rummaging the case taking out simple medical apparatus for her. Simon seems to notice her. "What? I promised you that I'll come back for you. Simon gently puts his hand on Sarah's as an assurance. "You'll be okay." At the back of her imagination, she saw the faceless cyborg smiling at her. Sarah chuckles weakly. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"_

 _"When my grandfather still left a few more years before he kicks the bucket, I played nurse for him with all the high tech medical gadgets of my time." He shakes the bag of glucose. "Including feeding him the IV drips." Simon plunged his hands into the case again takes out several brown bags, all vacuum sealed. "Good thing you folks have military grade MREs. I'll make you one of these once you're a bit more refreshed." Then he flashed a bag of M &M. "But I think that you can have a piece or two from this."_

 _Simon gently opens the packet, and takes a piece of the chocolate goodness. "Say 'Ah'." Sarah trembled. Her lips curled downwards. She burst into tears and lets Simon feeds him a piece of M &M._


	7. A New Beginning

1 year later...

"It is ready." Said WAU. His voice was carried through the black veins that was properly spread across the facility of Theta instead of an uncontrolled growth. Simon looked cautiously at the chair. It adopts the appearance of the Pilot Seat throughout Pathos-II. But the designs were much more complex. The seat was grooved to fit the shape of a human being. Hundreds of intricate wire filament, both man-made and WAU-made spread behind the chair and connected to another chair of exact design.

"Alex," Sarah's hand caught Alex's arm, stopping him.

Alex turns around to look at her, one of the two true human remaining on Earth. He brushes his hand on her full cheek. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." Removing himself from her he motions not to take his seat first, but to look at the body sitting on the other advanced Pilot Seat. The body is humanoid, but it was no flesh and bone. It was a beautiful and precise design. The skeletal frame was made of metal while the artificial muscles and tissues were made of structure gel. The skin was slick and polished to a mirror sheen. Glowing blue dots spread across the body, making the empty shell appeared like a luminous deep sea creature. It was the crown achievement of WAU and all the residence of Pathos-II in replicating a human body. WAU had, in his AI capacity to display emotions, boasted that it is a major improvement of the old human body, a next step in evolution.

And it is only right that Alexander, the one that suggested this idea in the first place to be the first to take up this body. Will he lose the coin flip this time?

"So no bullshit, right Warden? This is the real deal?"

"I have made iterations to improve the Pilot Seat. Your brain and your consciousness will not be copied over. It will not be a cut-paste procedure either. You will be transferred, as real as a brain transfer."

"Fair enough." Alexander takes his seat.

"Hey Alex!" Carl Semken shouted from behind the crowd. "Keep your fingers crossed! It usually works!"

"I'll feed your old body to the fish!" Joked Peter Strasky. He was the fourth person to be uploaded to the crude body just like Simon's last year.

Alexander turns Catherine Chun. No longer stuck in a tablet and manhandled by anyone, she possessed a body of her own too. Alex gave hers before Strasky. But for the added humour, Alexander provided her with the body of a burly man. "So... you gonna wish me luck or something?" Simon asked.

"Break a leg, Alex." She replied.

The visor comes down. He was enveloped in total darkness for a few seconds before the visor lights up to show him a digital view of the surrounding. "At full processing speed, the digital brain transfer can be completed in just seconds. But I'll slow it down remarkably for you to experience the transfer."

"Will this hurt? Or it's just as painful as getting my picture taken?"

"A camera can only ever copy something. A photo of a person will never be that person." WAU explained. "To ensure literal continuity, you or anyone else after you will not take that path."

Simon lets out a nervous breath, even though he didn't need to. "Okay, let's do this."

"Administering structure gel to target cortex chip." Mechanical tentacles rose from the seat and converges on Alexander's cortex chip. They begun secreting structure gel to it and slowly harden, connecting the cortex chip with the tentacles. "Connection established. Absorbing electrical impulses of brain for transfer." There was a tinnitus whine ringing in his ears. Simon felt like his brain was pressed. "Brain transfer is at 5%" WAU noted.

"Alex? Alex, what's going on?" Sarah called out.

Even at 5%, Alexander can see the progress. Literally. "I'm transferring!" He shouted. "I'm having double vision!" It wasn't clear, but he was able to look at the crowd of people and cyborgs from two points of view.

"Transfer is at 25% percent." WAU noted.

Alexander was still locked in double, this time his second vision was clearer. Stronger. He look down at his hands. He had two pairs of hands. One was his older one. The other was from the new body.

"Holy shit!" Alexander looks up and saw Strasky holding his optical head in surprised. He saw him pointing at the body. At him. "Did that body just moved around?" Alexander can see that he was referring to the second body. It was moving exactly how the first body was moving.

"Transfer is at 75%"

Alexander can see that his first vision is disappearing, like it was low on power. His body begins to lose strength and slumps to the chair. On the other hand, his second vision became more and more solid. But the sensation is real. He couldn't fully comprehend the mechanics behind the transfer, but it's working.

"Transfer is at 100%."

The machine slowly powers down. The visors lifts. Alexander stands and looks at new self, body of onyx and eyes of blue. "I'm still me." He laughs at himself. "I'm still me."

"Well looks good on you." Catherine noted.

"Yeah, you remind me of Ultron." Simon said, referrencing the villain from the movie Marvels Avenger: Age of Ultron.

"Alex!" Sarah ran to him and hugged him tightly. Alexander replied in kind.

"Are you really you?"

"I'm still me, Sarah. I experienced the transfer."

Sarah looked into the blue eyes of Alexander. Call it sixth sense or whatever, she can see the soul of the man who saved her life a year ago. "Yes, I can see you Alexander."

"So how do I look?" He can feel the warmth of her hand touching his artificial cheeks.

"Handsome," she smiled alluringly and her hand travels further down to his chest. "And pretty hunky."

Carl Semken scoffs loudly. "Oh get a room you two! I wanna get my upgrade already!"

"Why so eager? Amy asked. You don't like your old body?"

"Because I'm done stuck in the corpse with the head of WALL-E. I wanna eat like I used to. Sleep like I used to. I wanna drink my favourite liquor."

Everybody turns to look at the Wrangler like he was an idiot. This made Carl more annoyed. "What? Don't tell me that none missed none of that?"

WAU will prepare the next body. It only takes around an hour to prepare the body and everyone already submitted their preferences on how they should look. Now the process is delayed because all of them were arguing who gets to be next. Simon had a simple solution of a box of random numbers which will determine their turn.

"Hey. Where's Alexander and Sarah?" Brandon Wan asked.

"Ignore them," Simon said.

"Nature calls," Catherine followed as she dunk her hand into the box and drew number 1.

The door of her quarters haven't even begun to close and Sarah had already tore off her jacket, hands around the back of Alexander's neck. Mouth desperately kissing his. "Does the special feature works?"

"We all made sure it works," Alexander said. A moment later, a peculiar black rod grew on his groin.


	8. EPILOGUE - Reunion

Simon walk down the corridor of the staff quarters. Passing by some of the inhabitants, he greets them. They weren't the crude cyborg that was brought back to life, but the new body that was made by WAU. Bodies of structure gel black lined with chrome and the blue dots of the minuscule nodes. The body was designed so that now drinking structure gel is as harmful as drinking water. Of course if anyone is hungry, the new bodies can receive human food as well. It can also traverse the underwater landscape and the abyss without the use diving suits anymore as the new body can absorb oxygen through the skin and withstand the water pressure. The body is also immune to the toxic air. This the copy of Antjie Coetzee can attest to as he volunteered to go to the surface of the Omega station. He was not even surprised to see his own dead body up there.

"Alexander?" Simon stood for a few moments in front of Sarah Lindwall's quarters. "Alex?" He called out again. He can hear a rustle of blankets accompanied by footsteps. With a beep, the door slid open.

"You're up early."

"It's 11:30 in the morning, man." Simon peered inside and saw Sarah was just clipping her bra onto herself. "You had fun." Said Simon with a sly grin.

"And you don't?" Alexander mimicked the expression.

"Well Catherine was easily satisfied so," Simon looked around. "Look, can we talk?"

"About what?"

"Johann Ross."

Alexander raises his eyebrows. "Right. Just give me a moment." Both of the men met in the scanner room where they had their transfer. "Okay, my twin brother. What is so important about Johan Ross?" Then he noticed that he wasn't alone. "Mark Sarang."

In his humble human form, Mark Sarang was of Korean descent with light skin and facial hair. Now he had fashioned himself to look like those perfect Korean male singers. "Mr. Alexander Jarett." Mark greeted.

"Mark. What are you doing here?"

"I called him here, bro." Simon said. "To talk about Johan Ross."

"Mr. Alexander... I believe that there is a possibility that there are other human survivors apart from Pathos-II."

The statement gave Alexander pause. "Survivors? Real humans like Sarah and Amy?"

"Correct."

"I thought that everyone died when the comet hits."

"Not necessarily. Don't hate, but I asked Warden to show me your memories when you went down to the abyss."

"And you do this because?" Alexander waits for an answer of this invasion.

"I was just curious on what exactly has happened down there, that's all." Simon directs Alexander to the computer and plays a video file. The video was a memory clip of Alexander's travels from Tau to Phi. But all of it only shows footage of his encounter with Johann Ross. "Don't you think it's strange?" Simon uttered.

"What is?"

"Why does Johann Ross wanted to kill Warden so badly?"

"Because he wanted to save humanity." To Alexander, it was plain sense.

"And there's the problem. Humanity has gone extinct. What is there to save? The abstract idea of what human is and what human is not? A nice notion, but who's going to be around to give a damn about it? It is a lost cause." Simon taps on the screen. "But look at him. He's hellbent on making you kill Warden. Why?"

Alexander dismissed the idea. "He went insane. Just like the rest of them. It's that simple."

"What if he isn't insane?" Simon throws back a question to Alexander. "The easiest way for us to prove this is to look into Johan Ross' memories. But his brain wasn't scanned at all. So I asked him." Simon points at Mark Sarang.

"Johan Ross and Julia Dahl were staff transferred Carthage Industries headquarters. In 2050, the industry rose to be the leading geothermal energy and deep sea mining company." Said Mark Sarang. "It is very likely that Pathos-II isn't the only facility that survived the apocalypse." Mark Sarang points on the map they recovered from the installation. But there are red lines drawn all over the map. "These lines are the tectonic plates of the world. And here we are in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere at the intersecting plates between the North American Plate, Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. Spots like these are the ideal location for a geothermal plant." Mark Sarang taps one of the lines. "Somewhere at the northern part of the Carribean Plate, there is one such underwater installation just like Pathos-II that supplies geothermal energy to the Bahamas and the surrounding islands."

"That looks like a long walk."

"We can walk that long." Mark Sarang said. "If there is a chance that these installations have survivors," He trailed off.

"So what say you, brother? Shall we embark on another great quest to rediscover and unite mankind once more?"

"I don't know." Alexander looks at his hands. "We're not exactly humans anymore."

"We'll work out on the tiny details later on. Pathos-II is in good hands now. We should do something else."

Alexander looks at the islands at the Bahamas and thought deeply. The comet had took everything. Everything from everyone. Perhaps this is fate, or just the reset button of the cosmos, to throw Earth a stone and have them start over from scratch. From the ashes rises a group of new people, who defied the apocalypse and became stronger. Pathos-II have that way, and Alexander will see to it that he shares this to others. Being selfless is one of the traits of being human, especially in these dark times.

Alexander looks at Simon and Mark Sarang with a smile. "Let's find them."


End file.
